Back in the 1960s, at the height of the advertising industry's so-called "creative revolution," a popular print campaign for Levy's rye bread showed people of various ethnic backgrounds enjoying the
bread under a headline that read: "You Don't Have to be Jewish to Love Levy's." Now, another marketer long associated with targeting primarily Jewish consumers is also trying to branch out.
Manischewitz, the leading marketer of kosher foods, is expanding its marketing efforts to reach mainstream shoppers with a new ad campaign aimed at the general market as well as at consumers who
traditionally buy kosher products for religious reasons. The multimillion-dollar effort, now underway, carries the theme "Simply Manischewitz." It includes online advertising, print ads, e-mail
messages, and a promotional cook-off with prizes provided by a mainstay brand, General Electric. The goal is to encourage consumers to ask grocers and other retailers to stock Manischewitz items not
in the smaller kosher sections of stores, but in the more heavily trafficked aisles devoted to broad product categories like soup, crackers, noodles, and sauces. "Our aspiration is to be America's
preferred specialty-food company," said Jeremy J. Fingerman, president and chief executive at parent company R.A.B. Food Group. Although "kosher foods are clearly our heritage and our anchor," Mr.
Fingerman said, "this is about the 'and,' not the 'or.' We're reasserting our core kosher credentials and positioning ourselves for broader growth.
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